Six Days Til Tournament Time

Classes attended: 4 regular

Less than a week until the tournament. Until a few days ago I was getting pretty nervous and starting to question my decision to sign up for this one (certainly there were better ways to spend that registration money than for a tournament I don't feel I had the chance to properly train for). But as I sat there thinking about it, a lot of the pre-tournament anxiety began to melt away and I became ok with the idea that I'm going to be competing without really feeling ready for it.
For starters, while I may not have been able to go to the actual tournament training, I have been much more consistent about the training I've been to for this tournament. So I'm at least feeling comfortable with the idea of being on the mat. Also, unless I go out there and completely do something stupid (not entirely outside the realm of possibility), it's going to be hard for me to do worse than I did in my last tournament. I'm not saying I'll do any better, just that it's going to be hard for me to do worse. So at the least I'll be consistent in my tournament performances. But the biggest reason I think I've been feeling pretty at ease with this whole tournament thing is I realized in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter.
As I've said before, BJJ is a hobby for me. A hobby I find myself more passionate about the more I do it, but a hobby none the less. Outside of a small group of friends, family, and teammates, no one cares how I do in the competition. And most those people that do care are likely to be supportive more than anything after a bad performance. At the end of the day, win or lose, I'll be going out for pizza with my beautiful, wonderful, and incredibly supportive girlfriend and my dog will all too excited to see me when I get home. Also, I'm getting out of a day of work for it, so no matter what, I'm still going to feel like a bit of a winner (unless I get seriously injured, but I don't like to think along those lines).